Leslie Barns new name for LRV storage facility slated to open in 2014

The former Ashbridges Bay Streetcar and Storage Facility has a new name. Again.

The TTC’s board of commissioners voted to approve the name change of the facility located at Leslie Street and Lakeshore Boulevard to the Leslie Barns, which supporters say better reflects the local neighbourhood.

The decision was supposed to have been finalized last November when the board voted to change the name of the 22-acre facility under construction to the Leslie Barn. But at December’s board meeting TTC chair Karen Stintz motioned to re-open the issue and the final name change was adopted unanimously by the board this week.

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said the second vote was needed because of a “misunderstanding” by TTC staff and Leslie ‘Barns’ was the preferred name all along.

One of the city councillors who pushed for the name change was pleased with the board’s decision to re-address the matter and vote again for the correct name.

“We’re thrilled with the change to Leslie Barns,” said Mary-Margaret McMahon, councillor for Beaches-East York, this week.

McMahon, who along with Toronto Danforth councillor Paula Fletcher, wrote a letter to Stintz requesting the name change, said the original name had negative connotations to a past sewage treatment facility at Ashbridges Bay.

“We just thought it wasn’t the most fitting name for the storage yard,” said McMahon.

A staff report from last November recommending the change said doing so would continue a tradition of naming TTC ‘Carhouses’ after streets.

Adding Barns, however, is a recent phenomenon which began with the naming of Wychwood Barns, a converted artist and community space located on Wychwood Avenue, just off St. Clair Avenue West. The former storage yard predates the TTC’s existence and was known as the St. Clair Carhouse.

When it is completed in 2014, the Leslie Barns will house the new light rail vehicles (CLRVs) to replace the TTC’s existing streetcar fleet.

Also planned for 2014 is a new stretch of streetcar track running along Leslie which will link the Leslie Barns to Queen Street East.